I suspect now that none of us are safe. Well, the very wealthy are, but “us” being the comfortable and comfortably employed middle class will start feeling this. It’s such an un-fact-based feeling that is born of a destructively un-fact-based time that I hesitate. Someone on Twitter had said that we’re not going through a pandemic but rather through a catastrophe. So much else is tied in with the virus, and even ignoring Trump’s gross exacerbation of the situation, we have: a collapsing economy with attempts at revival increasing deaths (The meat industry is trying to get back to normal. But workers are still getting sick — and shortages may get worse. The Washington Post, 25 May 2020), federal and international disunity creating archipelagos of mitigation, disrupted food distribution resulting in massive livestock euthanasia (Opinion: Livestock Farmers, Without Options, Turn To Euthanasia, NPR, 16 May 2020), and a collapse of trust in basic science (‘How Could the CDC Make That Mistake?’, The Atlantic, 21 May 2020). The last item results in a justified mistrust but is the result of active poisoning of those institutions. The CDC, once the world’s laboratory, has been cooking the books.
None of this has really touched me at all, but buffers are only buffers until they wear thin and catastrophe hits the mark.
IGs are being routed. Several references here (Washington Post, 27 May 2020).
- 3 Apr 2020 – Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community fired. Alerted Congress of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint.
- 1 May 2020 – Christi Grimm, Inspector General of HHS replaced. Head of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee who complained of severe shortages of hospital supplies.
- 15 May 2020 – Steve Linick, State Department Inspector General fired. Investigating the administration’s bypassing of Congress to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.
- 15 May 2020 – Mitch Behm, Inspector General of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee fired. Deputy Inspector General of DOT, investigating whether Elaine Chao, spouse of Mitch McConnell, had a conflict of interest and was supplying special treatment to his state.
- 26 May 2020 – Glenn Fine, Pentagon deputy inspector general resigns. Chairman of the panel overseeing the $2 trillion stimulus package.
Kayleigh McEneny held up Trump’s bank and routing numbers (021407912 and 7528047577, respectively) on live TV in an attempt to show how much of his salary he donates to HHS. Trump giggled like a child as Mnuchin shows him his signature on stimulus debit cards.
Trump threatens to move the RNC out of North Carolina if they don’t allow a full convention. Kemp in our fair state lobbies for the honor (after he too cooked the books).
Obama hosted a commencement ceremony for the class of 2020 and Yo Yo Ma performed the six Bach Cello Suites live on YouTube. I missed my alarm for the event and finally jumped in halfway through:
And, of course, Crow makes an appearance:
